The language of love
by MacyBear17
Summary: Sometimes, love doesn't need words to be communicated... Especially when you are a composer and a choreographer from East High... Set after HSM 2, its a Ryelsi centric fic with cameos by Troyella, Zekepay, Chaylor and Jartha...
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N : Hey guys... everyone who knows me knows that i usually write JONAS fics... especially Nacy ones only... This fic though has been banging on my brain to get out onto my laptop... Its been stopping me from trying to write the other stories that i have in the works... So i decided to finish this once and for all and get it out of the way... I might end up posting the whole thing in 2 or 3 days... it will contain abt 7 chapters or so with an epilogue at the end..._**

**_Ryelsi is like my fav pairing in the HSM series and i honest to god hate Disney and Kenny Ortega for not giving them more on screen time..._**

**_Ooh... first things first..._**

**_Disclaimer : As everyone already knows... I am just a poor student who doesn't own anything... Not even the laptop i am typing this on... So excuse me why i go to the corner and cry :'(_**

**Chapter 1**

Kelsi Nielsen walked down the almost empty halls of East High from her locker to the music room… She loved being at school this early every morning…. It gave her a different perspective of the school, being able to really see it as it was, without the distracting horde of students, the noise and the crowd… She loved the sense of peace that came over her when she stepped into the school music room, taking in the warm glow of the early morning sun on the floor by the beautiful, shiny black baby grand piano there…

This…. This was her domain… This was the place she knew she belonged at… Sharpay Evans may be the queen of the school, but here, in the music room, Kelsi ruled…. Here, Kelsi, the shy, small bespectacled girl who would rather not be noticed slipped away… Leaving only Kelsi Nielsen, the composer behind… One who reveled in the music… One who was proud of the connection she could create between hearts through her music… She was secretly proud of how she had brought the famous 'it' couple of the school together… Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez… And it had all been due to her music!...

The shiny, contrasting black and white ivory keys were by far her best friends in this school…. She loved the way it felt when she sat on the piano bench and readied to play by placing her hands on the keys… The music flowed through her, the familiarity of the keys under her slightly callused fingertips letting loose the spirit of creativity… She knew that this was the time and place where she wrote some of her best music…

Her smile faltered a bit when she thought of that one person she wrote most of what were her best compositions for… Since the day she figured out exactly why she felt the way she did around him, Kelsi had been unconsciously writing some of her best pieces of music when she thought about him… The one person who made her heart flutter in her chest like a hummingbird… The one who made her feel things she had never felt before…. The one who Kelsi Nielsen loved with all her heart… Nobody but her had even heard most of those pieces… She couldn't bring herself to play them for anybody else… It was very personal and she was afraid that if he or someone else who understood her music would listen, they would know how she felt… There were some days when she felt like she just had to tell someone about this… maybe even him…

Then she smiled and simply shook her head, knowing that she might be feeling brave enough in the music room but outside, she was still shy little Kelsi and there was absolutely no way she would be able to shore up the courage to disclose her feelings to him…or anyone else for that matter…

As she sat down at the piano bench and lifted the cover on the keys, her fingers encountered a barrier between them and the ivory and ebony… A soft ivory long stemmed rose bud, its petals delicately edged with the faintest of pinks was placed across the keys of the piano… It was so soft and so beautiful that Kelsi for a moment forgot her determination to get working on her music and sat admiring the beautiful flower… She was almost afraid to touch the flower or remove it from its current position as she was completely sure that it wasn't meant for her… I mean come on… Who would leave a flower for her?... And such a beautiful one at that?...

She was boring, shy and just plain normal Kelsi Nielsen… Not someone like Sharpay Evans who made boys run after her like puppies or Gabriella Montez, a genius with an amazing voice who captured the heart of East High's golden boy Troy Bolton… She was just the small unnoticeable shy girl whose only distinction was that she wrote music… She had had a lot of fun composing music for the musical during the spring session and the staff talent show during summer… It had been quite the experience working with all the Wildcats after spending most of her school years being terrorized by the one and only drama queen of East High – Sharpay Evans…. It was not that she didn't like working with them… They were highly talented the twins… Sharpay and _**him**_… She couldn't even bring herself to say his name nowadays…

Her obsession with Ryan Evans had started when she heard him sing and play for the first time almost a year ago… She had been heading to the music room at her usual time in the morning when she had heard someone already in there, playing a soft melody that was somehow both happy and sad at the same time… Then his voice had sounded… Clear as a bell but soft like a raincloud… the music and lyrics wrapping themselves around her like a warm blanket… She was sure she had never heard the song or the melody ever before which meant that it had to be his own composition… She didn't know how she knew that but to her it sounded like something Ryan would write… Though she had never heard him play or sing something like that before.

Kelsi hadn't known that Ryan wrote music, much less songs so beautiful as the one she heard now… She had decided not to disturb him and leave him to it but found that her feet were completely reluctant to move away from her place… It was as if her body was disobeying her mind and insisting on staying right there, listening to the beautiful, haunting melody of the song being played… She had stayed there till she had heard him put back the cover on the keys and get ready to leave that day… After that she had never been able to hear him sing or play anything that was his own… But that one day, that one song had made so much of a difference in the way Kelsi perceived Ryan Evans that she found herself starting to notice him in a whole new light…

End of Chapter 1

A/N : plz review if you liked it...

lotsa luv

Macy Bear :)


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N : Hello all you beautiful people... here's the next chapter... review and tell me how much you liked it... review even if you didn't... just the fact that someone reviewd makes me smile for the rest of the day!... :)**_

Oh and i don't own anything... I'd just like to make that clear...

**Chapter 2**

Everyone in school knew Ryan Evans as Sharpay's brother… The other Evans kid… Sharpay's shadow… Even, That gay dude who wears hats to school… Till that day, Kelsi herself had thought about Ryan on those lines only… Not the comment about Ryan wearing hats… She completely understood that, what with her own collection of them at home… She loved wearing hats too… It almost felt like she was missing something essential if her head was bare…

There had been the one time Chad and Troy had decided to take her favorite purple pageboy hat and play with it instead of the basketball they always seemed to have with them… That day both the basketball stars had gone home with her angry shouts ringing in their ears… Chad had decided that day to never get on the wrong side of 'Small Person' ever… Even his girlfriend Taylor had never shouted at him like that!... And that was saying something cuz Taylor was always shouting at him for one thing or the other…. No one had ever seen Kelsi so angry as she was that day… And she had never been that angry since as they had all decided that they were much better off not making her angry in any way…

Still, that was probably the only thing she and Ryan had in common…. Their love of hats… Not that she had any opportunity to talk with him to find out whether they shared any other interests… His sister was always around him, bossing him, demanding things and making him do most of her work and Kelsi wasn't suicidal yet that she would talk to Ryan in front of his sister… Everyone knew that if there was one thing in the world Sharpay loved other than herself, it was her younger twin… She was also highly protective and possessive of him and didn't like it at all if anyone other than her got his attention…

Ryan cheerfully took all of the demands, the rants and the threats from his sister, reacting to them in ways he knew would calm her down…. He had always had a special soft spot for his fame-crazy but insecure sister… Everyone thought that he took all her abuse because he was afraid of standing up to her but the truth was that his sister needed him so much more than he needed her… She was basically a very insecure person who needed people around her to keep bolstering her confidence up all the time… Her insecurity often came out in the form of a major superiority complex, which most people didn't understand and didn't even bother to try… Thus, she had alienated almost everybody around her and was conversely even more dependent on Ryan now….

He was still thanking god for the day he had shown Sharpay the importance of having friends and she had started to open up and make acquaintances with people outside her circle… And he also thanked god from the bottom of his heart for Zeke Baylor, the one saving grace in Sharpay's life… The one guy who had stuck by her through everything and still loved her for who she was…. Sharpay had finally decided she had had enough of ignoring the sweetest guy on earth and had confessed to him that she did in fact return his feelings fully and had made Zeke the happiest man in the planet… Ever since she and Zeke had started going out, Sharpay had mellowed out a lot and had even started talking to people nicely…

Just the other day, he had found her talking animatedly with Gabriella, Martha, Taylor and a few others in the drama club about the new musical they were trying to get everyone to do as part of our final year at East High and her hopes of making it big in Broadway someday… It had made him happy to finally see his sister being able to interact with people comfortably, without lording it over them or trying to get them to do something for her… Sharpay had finally learnt how to make friends and it left Ryan free to pursue his own goals, dreams…. Free to lead his own life instead of worrying about both his and his sisters'.

And goal number one in his life now was that Juilliard Scholarship… He needed to get that if he was to make his father believe that he was serious about pursuing his dream of being a professional theatre actor and choreographer… His father had been after him, to drop all this dramatics crap, his words not mine, and take up the responsibility of the family business… Mr. Evans wanted his son to take over his company after his retirement… Not that Ryan didn't want to… He just wanted to pursue his dream of the theatre while he still could… Later in life he would have no objection to taking over the reins of the company from his dad… They both knew that Ryan had a very good head for business and could learn whatever he had to in a very short period of time…

Coming a very close second in his list of goals was to finally get up the courage to find out if the beautiful Miss. Nielsen liked him even a tiny bit as much as he liked her… In fact, _**like**_ was such a major understatement… Ryan had been in love with Kelsi Nielsen and her musical genius ever since the day he had heard her play the song 'What I've been looking for' for the first time in the music room at school… It had been before the spring musical and Kelsi had been writing the score and fine tuning her music when he had happened upon her…

He was ashamed to say that before that day he hadn't given the quiet girl a second thought… He had been so involved in his life and his sisters' that he had had almost no time for anything or anyone else…. But now he noticed… He noticed the way Kelsi's black newspaper boy hat was perched on her caramel colored curls… He noticed the way her chocolate brown eyes sparkled beneath her glasses as she found the correct lyric for a piece of melody… The way she pushed her glasses up hurriedly and bent down to the sheet music to write her thoughts down…. The way her delicate yet strong hands with long fingers moved so fluidly over the piano keys as if they were meant to be there… The way her tongue poked out of the side of her mouth cutely when she was concentrating on getting everything just the way she wanted it… The way her mobile mouth, topped by the most luscious pair of pink lips he had ever seen, smiled ever so often as the songwriting came along much quicker than he had ever done it himself…

He didn't know exactly what had inspired her but the scene before him was inspiring him now… Melodies and lyrics filled his head so fast that he had to get a hold of himself or he would've just barged into the music room and sat at the piano with Kelsi… He figured it was best if she didn't know that he had been staring at her like a love-crazed stalker for the past half hour and left as quietly as possible…

That night, he had written song after song, all inspired by a petite girl composer with caramel hair and warm chocolate eyes… Not that he had played any of those ever again… The sheet music for all of them was hidden away in a secret compartment in his writing desk… one that even his nosey sister had never found… The feelings expressed in those songs were so personal, so heart rending that he had never had the courage to play it for anybody else…. He had thought that if some day, he had the courage to tell Kelsi how he felt, then she would be the first person to hear what he felt about her through those songs…

Since then, he had tried very hard not to let his feelings for Kelsi show around his sister… He knew that not only was Sharpay very possessive of him, she would also think that Kelsi Nielsen was not good enough for the guy who was going to be _**her**_ partner on Broadway… Wanting to protect Kelsi from the wrath of Sharpay Evans had been the most difficult task Ryan had ever undertaken…. As his sister had naturally become jealous of Kelsi's musical talent and had set out to overshadow her and show Kelsi just who was the boss at East High…

Ryan had felt like he was desecrating a masterpiece when he found out what his sister had done to the song Kelsi had given them to sing… It was the same song that had led to Ryan falling in love with the composer… The faster tempo had completely changed the mood of the slow, soft utterly romantic ballad that Kelsi had written… Now it sounded more like a peppy pop number that his sister was famous for doing….His heart bled for Kelsi but there was absolutely nothing he could do about the song because his first duty was to support his sibling no matter what…

Most of the times Ryan didn't agree with Sharpay's views on things but that didn't stop him from having her back… She was his twin sister for god's sake!... If he didn't support her then who would?... He knew that he was probably sounding the death knell for any relationship he could've had with Kelsi by going with his sister's view on this one but it was already too late… He had made his decision and now he had to stick with it…

That summer, he had tried his best to stick with Sharpay and her decisions but she had taken it a step too far by trying to sabotage the whole Wildcat crew during the summer talent show at Lava Springs… He had finally decided to side with the rest of the group because he had had it with her high-handedness… He'd trained the disorganized Wildcats into a sleek, well-formed talented crew of dancers… And had a whole lot of fun doing it… He'd also made a lot of friends during the process, which made his life a lot more fun during his senior year… Now he was really enjoying the process of going through their final year in school together and doing the final musical with each other….

Another reason why he was excited about the musical was that he knew if he was the choreographer and if Kelsi was asked to do the composing for the show, they would have to be working together for quite a long time to get everything in place even before they started practicing with the others… Now that Sharpay had become friends with everyone and was dating Zeke, Ryan was free to explore the feelings he'd had for Kelsi since their junior year….

He'd been extremely excited about the senior year musical ever since Ms. Darbus had told him that she would like it if he choreographed and Kelsi composed the whole thing by themselves… There was also the added impetus of representatives from Juilliard coming in to see their finished product on opening night… Ryan knew that there was only one scholarship on offer and that Sharpay, himself, Kelsi and Troy were gonna be competing for it… Even knowing that he would be competing against Kelsi on some level, couldn't dampen the euphoria he was feeling at the prospect of spending a whole lot of time alone with the composer…

End of Chapter 2

A/N : review plz... :)


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N : Hey guys... back with chapter 3... hope you like it... plz review... :)**_

_**P.S. Still don't own anything... :(**_

**Chapter 3**

Ryan had called Kelsi sometime that night and had fixed up to meet with her at the school music room about an hour before school the next day… Waiting for Ryan in front of her piano was proving nerve wracking for Kelsi… As she sat down at the piano to get rid of some of her nervousness by playing the instrument, her fingers had happened upon the beautiful rosebud, lying in wait for someone on the keys… Sighing, she slowly, delicately removed the long-stemmed flower and put it into the thin vase resting on top of the piano lid where she usually kept flowers in the summer… She filled the vase with water from the small jug nearby and let the bud just rest in the vase as she spent a few more minutes gazing at its beauty…

"Hi Kelsi… Sorry I am late…" said Ryan, rushing in, clearly panting from running, his normally shiny head of hair all disheveled, his hat in his hand… His sudden appearance startled Kelsi so that her hand slipped on the keys and ended up creating a jarring noise that made Ryan look enquiringly at her while she blushed heavily at her clumsiness…

Hurriedly, Kelsi arranged her sheets of music on the holder affixed to her piano and turned to find Ryan shrugging off his coat and leaving his hat on the coat stand at the corner… Schooling her expression to something that hopefully didn't look like that of an adoring fan, she turned back to the piano and shifted so that he could have space to sit on the bench beside her… Kelsi was simultaneously expecting and dreading the sensation of Ryan sitting right next to her on the piano bench…

Her body was yearning to feel him sitting close to her, feeling his warmth seeping into her bones, his arm rubbing against hers as they played music together… But her mind was dreading the action because it was sure that the tight hold she had on her emotions now might break if she was that close to him… She shook her head slightly, telling herself off sternly for being such a pansy… She would go through with this and maintain her dignity if that was the last thing she did… She would make sure that she controlled her feelings and concentrated solely on the music and dance sequences… That would do it… She knew she could pull it off….

Ryan meanwhile was debating what to do… How to approach her about the feelings he had when he saw her expression… He saw her shake her head slightly at herself and she looked as if she was reaching a major decision… Half curious, half afraid of what that might be, he resolved to walk up to her and ease her into his company… He had a lot of days ahead to ask her that particular life altering, million… no… billion dollar question… First he had to make sure that she was comfortable in his company, that she became his friend… He would focus on being friendly for now… Though he had no idea how he was going to stop his body from reacting to her nearness… Taking a deep breath, he walked up to the bench and carefully slid onto it so that there was a respectable amount of space between them and they could both move their arms quite easily…

Deciding that the safest course of conversation for now would be focusing on the music, they both turned to each other and started to get lost in the world that they knew so well… The world of music came to the rescue that day and every other day after that for quite some time before both of them were comfortable enough with each other to try discussing other topics… Once they lost that initial shyness and nervousness they felt around each other, it was as if they had always been the best of friends… They were two complimentary halves of a whole… Their likes and dislikes though different, always presented a complimentary picture of the others' ….It was as if unconsciously, they were each created to complete the other's personality… Soul mates…. That was exactly what they were… Both were thinking the same things but neither got the courage to directly approach the other about it…

Meanwhile, Kelsi kept finding a single rose bud waiting for her on the piano every other day… The roses weren't there every day but they would appear randomly… Mostly they appeared on days when Kelsi had been feeling a little sad or down about something the previous day… Each day, a differently colored but exquisitely beautiful rose bud found its way to the piano before Kelsi came in… One day it had been a deep crimson one, the next time a pale pink one, and the other day a beautiful yellow one had found its way to the piano… Over the weeks, there had also been a lavender, a deeper purple one, a very rare light blue rosebud that she still had preserved in a vase of sugared water at home… In fact, she had every rose since the first ivory one safely tucked away into that vase in her bedroom… She cared for it every day, changing the water, adding some sugar and lemon juice to it because she'd heard somewhere that it would help the flowers stay fresh longer…

Ryan and Kelsi had decided that they would practice for an hour before school every day, just the two of them… The afternoons were taken up by singing practice for the other main singers in the musical with Kelsi and dance practice for Ryan and the dancers at the school auditorium… It was hard for both of them to get there that early every morning but neither would let that opportunity to spend some alone time with the other get away… They had become the closest of friends who shared anything and everything with each other… Except that huge something that was always in the room like a pink elephant…their feelings for each other…

Kelsi couldn't at first believe that someone was leaving flowers for her… She had found the gesture incredibly romantic and the fact that someone had strong enough feelings for her to go through all the trouble made her feel light as air… She had first had a teeny weeny thought… more of a small seed of expectation that the one who left her flowers was Ryan… She so wanted it to be him that she was almost ready to believe that it really could've been him that was leaving flowers for her….

She hadn't found the courage inside her to ask him right out whether he was the one who left the flowers but he had also not commented on the appearance of a new colored rosebud on the piano on random days… He had commented on the color and beauty of the flower most of the days but had hardly expressed any interest in how it came to be there… So with a heavy heart, Kelsi concluded that she probably had a secret admirer… She was heartily cursing love that day… Because it was the love she had for a certain someone that was making even something so romantic and special as having a secret admirer seem like a pain in the neck…

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N : Hi people... back with some more chapters... hope you like them too... special thanks to**_** krfan**_** who was the first to review on the story... virtual hugs and baskets of chocolatey goodness sent your way... :) :)**_

_**Disclaimer : Don't own anything... yet... vbeg**_

**Chapter 4**

Some weeks down the line, the songs were done, the dances were choreographed to Ryan's satisfaction and it was time for rehearsals… All the Wildcats involved in the musical had finally learnt all the song and dance sequences and had started practicing the acts scene by scene in the auditorium, giving Ryan and Kelsi the opportunity to see how their work would turn out on stage and make any necessary corrections if needed… Everyone was so busy with practicing and learning lines, songs and dance steps that no one had any time to notice things… Small things…

Like how Martha and Jason had started hanging out together, how Zeke was becoming more and more confident of his relationship with Sharpay since she had started mellowing down… So it was no biggie that no one noticed how relaxed Kelsi and Ryan had become with each other… No one particularly had any time to pay attention to it but Sharpay knew her younger twin so well that she didn't even need to be near him to know that he was behaving very differently nowadays…. She had noticed it since the first day she knew Ryan and Kelsi were going to be spending time together because of the musical…

Her brother had been oddly excited, going around smiling over nothing… staring off into space in the middle of conversations… Oh he had tried to hide it and she had to give it to him… He had been quite successful at it… No one else had even been able to see that something was different… But Sharpay Evans knew her brother… and even though most people would refuse to believe it, she loved him… a lot. She wouldn't let some two-bit composer chick take him away only to let him down someday and break his heart…

She had spoken to Zeke about it, who had surprisingly taken Kelsi's side… It might have resulted in a major fight and ended in Zeke and Sharpay breaking up if Zeke hadn't had his best chocolate chip cookies at hand to diffuse Sharpay's anger… She had actually thought about Zeke's argument over a couple of the best cookies in the world and in a first in their relationship, She had given in and said that she was willing to give Kelsi a chance… provided she made sure that the short composer girl wouldn't break her brother's heart… So that day on, Sharpay had taken to keenly observing the interaction between Kelsi and her twin… She had almost started stalking them before Zeke had caught her at it and distracted her…quite interestingly I must say… :P

She had grudgingly come to admit that even _**she**_ was convinced that they were perfect for each other… Now, if they could get off their butts, just take that step and confess to each other, they could have a shot at being really happy… So, being Sharpay, albeit the new mellow, friendly version (thanks entirely to the miracle that was Zeke Baylor)… She hatched a plan to make Kelsi more comfortable around Ryan and his family… She asked Kelsi to come with her on the next shopping trip to the mall…

Kelsi was extremely taken aback at the sudden invitation… especially when it didn't involve any of the other girls in the group… But there was no way she could refuse Sharpay anything… Kelsi was still heartily afraid of the former drama queen, even though Sharpay had become so much more friendly in the recent past… So she agreed to accompany Ryan's sister to the mall the next day, which happened to be a Saturday…

After spending about four hours in Sharpay's company trawling every store in the mall, Kelsi had to admit it… Sharpay was a champion shopper… And she was also much nicer when you got to know her… Thanking Zeke from the bottom of her heart for making this possible, Kelsi found herself doing two things she had never thought she would do in her entire life… She was enjoying shopping and she was enjoying the company of a certain pink-worshiping blond fashionista Evans… Sharpay had even showed her a new hat shop at the mall and had laughed when Kelsi had been unable to resist the pull of four simple darling hats… Shaking her head, she had simply said

"You and my brother are perfect for each other… You should get together…."

And she had sashayed away, leaving a flabbergasted Kelsi in her wake… Looking back to see that the petite composer wasn't following her out of the store, Sharpay had smirked at the expression on Kelsi's face and pulled her along to the next shop… By the time Kelsi could gather her wits around, Sharpay had progressed on to other topics and Kelsi didn't have the courage to revisit that comment and ask her what she had really meant when she said it… But Kelsi knew one thing now… That if she really did get together with Ryan, Sharpay had as much given them her blessing and she wouldn't have a problem with it….

She didn't know why but Kelsi felt quite relieved at the prospect of not having to face an angry Sharpay about her relationship with Ryan at a later stage… It was not like she and Ryan were even thinking about stuff like that… Correction… Ryan maybe wasn't, she didn't know… But, she definitely was… In fact it was all she could think about some days…

Kelsi might have finally found the courage to talk to Ryan about it if it hadn't been for the secret admirer… She didn't know what to do about this person who never did anything else, never said anything, just kept leaving flowers for her whenever she was down… She hadn't wanted to feel any responsibility towards this nameless, faceless admirer but being the soft-hearted person she was, Kelsi couldn't get past the fact that someone was going through all that trouble because they wanted to tell her that they liked her that much and wanted her to feel better… What she couldn't understand was that if this person liked her so much and wanted to make sure she knew, why weren't they coming forward about it?… She had tried her best to find out who it was but that had ended up an epic failure…. No one seemed to know anything about it… not that she told anyone other than Ryan and Sharpay about it…

The mall trawl with Sharpay had resulted in one major change in Kelsi's life… She and Sharpay had ended up becoming best gal pals ever since… Kelsi found it extremely easy to share things with Sharpay now… Yeah, she was still a little bratty and was quite opinionated but Ryan's twin was much better at handling relationships now…. Kelsi knew now that Sharpay was a very decent, fair person underneath the hard exterior she portrayed and so she also knew exactly how to handle Sharpay when she got angry about something… And having some of Zeke's cookies on hand always helped.. :P

When Kelsi had first told Sharpay about the flowers, she had been quite intrigued and had told Kelsi that she would look into it… But after a week of almost stalking Kelsi again and no flowers appearing, Sharpay had been able to find out nothing else… Also, because whoever it was didn't do or say anything else, Sharpay quickly lost interest in it and went to almost scornfully making fun of whoever it was…

Then suddenly, one day, the rose was replaced by a sheet of music with only two lines filled in… The top lines of the sheet were filled in with musical notes… Just from one glance, it was apparent to Kelsi that whoever had written the notes was well versed in music and knew what he or she was writing… She hurriedly sat down at the piano and played the opening line… It sounded as if it was the first line of a song that would be extremely beautiful if it was finished… It had a soft, almost sad wistful quality to it… Kelsi knew she had heard that kind of music before somewhere but for the life of her, she couldn't remember where…. She decided not to make a big deal about one line of sheet music and put the sheet of paper into her backpack, resolving to think about it later…

The next day, there was another sheet of music, this with the second two lines filled in… Now intrigued, Kelsi played the lines on the piano, quickly realizing that this formed the second line of the song that had been started in the first sheet of music the other day… Whoever this was, was sending her a song one line at a time… Curiosity awakened inside her and she could hardly wait for the next line of music to be given to her…. Though the song had no lyrics as of yet, Kelsi could feel a very deep connection with the piece of music already… And she had heard only two lines of it!...

Sharpay and Ryan had reacted with different reactions to this development… Sharpay had reacted with slight curiosity but the predominant emotion there was some sort of smugness…. As if she knew something about this that no one else did… And try as she might, Kelsi couldn't get anything out of her… Ryan on the other hand had reacted in a sorta nervous manner…. Like he also knew something and was nervous that he would spill the beans in front of her… But he too, was silent about it no matter what Kelsi tried…

Kelsi was getting tired of all the cat and mouse drama… Her relationship with Ryan wasn't going anywhere… She had no idea who this secret admirer person was and her best friends were keeping secrets from her… The only bright spots in her life now were that mysterious song and the senior year musical… Kelsi thanked god that she had already finished composing all the songs for the musical now because that stupid two line song was stuck in her head now and she was quite sure she wouldn't be able to write any more music till she heard the whole damn thing…

Kelsi couldn't wait to get her hands on the rest of the song but she was getting only two new lines of it each day on her piano in the morning… She was thankful for the senior year musical now because it took up most of her day and left only the rest of the day off school to think or should I say obsess about the mysterious song… Her best friends were still not commenting on the song and both Ryan and Sharpay had skillfully been avoiding the subject during the week….

End of Chapter 4

A/N : plz review people... i've heard it helps with global warming.. :) jus kidding... but seriously... review everyone...


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N : here's another chapter ppl... enjoy... and remember... reviews are LOVE :)**_

_**Chapter 5**_

And then came the day that would be etched in the memory of both Ryan and Kelsi for the rest of their lives…. They would both remember it for completely different reasons though… Kelsi couldn't believe what was happening and Ryan was on cloud nine….

They had been practicing most of the acts before the intermission till now as only the final three big song and dance numbers were after that… Now that they'd started practicing those, they had found that there had been a major miscalculation… Ryan was a main character during and after the prom number because he had a solo going into and after that song… And he didn't have a partner for the prom sequence… It was too late in the practice stages to find someone new and all the students in the senior class were already paired up and practicing their respective roles…

The whole cast had been up in arms about this problem when Sharpay, in her typical manner had just announced to Ms. Darbus that Kelsi could do it… She had said that Kelsi was well versed with all the dance sequences, knew all the songs, cues and dialogues, could dance and sing well, was part of the senior class and also needed to showcase all her talents if she was serious about the Juilliard Scholarship….

It had taken a whole lot of convincing from the whole group for Kelsi to say yes… She had done so extremely reluctantly but she just couldn't find it in herself to let her friends down.. And that thing Sharpay had said about the Juilliard Scholarship was also quite true… So Kelsi and Ryan began spending more time together, this time learning to dance together… Kelsi discovered what it felt like to dance with someone who was probably the best dancer around and also the boy who held her heart… Ryan on the other hand had been on cloud seventeen since he heard that Kelsi was to partner him for the prom scene… He had actually been trying to find the courage to ask her to the real prom and this gave him the requisite opening to do that….

It took a whole day for him to broach the subject… They had been practicing for about an hour after school and were taking a break when he asked…

"So… Kels… What are you doing for prom?"

"Huh?... P… Prom?" Kelsi stuttered… taken by surprise

"Yes Kelsi… Prom… You know… Badly decorated gym, hundreds of balloons, syrupy punch, bad music, guys in uncomfortable tuxedos and girls flittering around like colorful butterflies amidst them… The biggest ritual of High School… Prom…" he joked, trying to ease the situation

"I know what prom is Ryan…. I… I don't know… It's like just before opening night… So I guess I'll be busy finalizing the music and stuff…." She put in hotly

"So you didn't have plans to go with anybody?..." Ryan asked slightly nervously… For the life of her Kelsi couldn't figure out why Ryan Evans was blushing…

"Wh… What?... N…No…." Kelsi stammered again, also blushing red

"Great… I'll pick you up at eight…" he blurted out and turned instantly to the music player.

To say that Kelsi was shocked speechless would be a major understatement… She was so shocked that when she pulled herself together, Ryan had already cued the CD player and had pulled her into his arms, taking the lead and twirling her around the room… It took all of Kelsi's attention just to keep up with him and after they had finished practicing the routine a couple more times, Ryan hurriedly made his excuses and ran out… Leaving a very confused Kelsi to lock up and leave… Kelsi was still so surprised about the fact that Ryan had said he would take her to the prom that she totally forgot the most important thing till she was at her doorstep…

A loud shriek was heard in Kelsi's house as she realized that prom was days away and she didn't have a dress… Without a second thought, Kelsi dialed Sharpay's number, not stopping to marvel at how easily that thought had come to her to call Sharpay first, instead of Gabriella or Taylor or even Martha… Ryan's sister had somehow along the way become Kelsi's best friend and she was sure that both the girls hadn't even noticed the fact… Anyways, Kelsi called Sharpay and told her what had happened… She told Kelsi that she would pick her up in about ten minutes and flipped her phone down, grinning happily at the prospect of her brother and her best friend getting together…Sharpay was not very surprised as she had known that her brother had atleast a little bit of sense in him and that he wouldn't let such an opportunity go waste…

She also knew a small little secret about her brother that she was sure no one else knew… Something regarding him spending insane amounts of money over a rare blue rosebud about three or four weeks ago… Her father had been heard shouting about it before he had heard the explanation for it from his son and forgiven him the whole thing… Little did they know that Ryan's twin sister had been in the room the whole time and had heard his heartfelt confession of love for a certain brunette composer friend of theirs… Sharpay was sure that Ryan would take the opportunity of prom to tell that certain friend about his feelings for her and she hoped for her twin's case that everything ended happily…

After about three long hours at innumerable and countless dresses tried on by her and dismissed by the blond fashionista in true regal fashion, Kelsi finally found the perfect dress… It was finally something that both she and Sharpay agreed on… It was a relatively short beige dress with delicate golden thread weaving through the material at strategic intervals, giving the simple dress the edge that made it look fabulous… It also had a vintage lacework hem that demurely brushed her knee and an asymmetrical top that went over one shoulder and left the other bare… The dress was totally Kelsi and was fashionable enough that Sharpay okay-ed it too… Sharpay chose a pair of black and beige high heels to go with it and shook her head in a smug manner when Kelsi questioned her about the choice… Sharpay knew that Ryan was going to be wearing his beige three piece suit along with his black bowler hat for the prom and wanted Kelsi to match him properly… But she wasn't gonna tell her friend everything now was she?... They then chose some accessories to go with the dress and by the time they were done, Kelsi had a new pair of black vintage chandelier earrings with a bracelet to match, a very pretty beige and gold clutch with some black lacing and her favorite purchase of the day, a beige and black vintage lace headband with a beige rosette on it…. Now she simply had to wait four days to wear them to prom…

End of Chapter 5

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_**A/N : so... how did you like it?... review and tell me k?... oh and remember to keep smiling... it confuses people :)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N : I'm back ppl... with the rest of the story... hope everyone likes it! fingers crossed... plz review tho :)**_

Disclaimer : Like i said... don't own anything... yet...

**Chapter 6**

The kids went on with school and rehearsals like nothing was going on but underneath the calm exterior, everyone was nervous and excited… During the week, the boys had come up with creative ways of asking their girls to the prom… Troy had done a whole song and dance routine on the roof to get Gabriella to go with him in true Troyella fashion… Chad had had to ask Taylor to the prom in front of the whole cafeteria… And surprise couple Jason and Martha had agreed to go together when Jason had turned up to school in a t-shirt with the message on it asking Martha to go to the prom with him… As usual, Zeke had seduced Sharpay into going with him by promising her a plate full of chocolatey goodness… Anyone who knew the new Sharpay Evans knew that nothing could come between her and Zeke… but they also knew that even Zeke couldn't come between Sharpay and a plate of his chocolate chip cookies….

Sharpay and Darby Evans had invited all the girls in the senior class to come over to their house for a spa day and offered help in getting ready for the prom while all the guys had decided to get together at the Bolton's house… Ryan had been shoved out of his house along with his suit, hat and shoes quite early in the morning and had been forced to camp over at Zeke's before they headed over to the Bolton residence… The guys had all agreed to go to the Evans' residence at around 6 in the evening in two stretch limos so that everyone could go together…

There were many near disasters thankfully averted at both residences throughout the day as Chad's bow tie had tried to choke him, Troy's hair had refused to tame down and both Zeke and Jason had somehow managed to lose their corsages… Nobody could get it out of them as they refused to divulge how they had lost them… Until Mrs. Bolton found two highly crushed orchids hastily stuffed underneath her couch… It came to light that they had both accidentally sat on their corsages… No one could understand how that was possible but now they were short two orchids for corsages and one of them had been Sharpay's…

Zeke was almost in a nervous breakdown as Sharpay would most probably kill him if he turned up without a corsage and it would definitely be worse if she found out that he had accidentally destroyed the orchid that she had purposely pre-ordered two weeks ago… from Hawaii… Ryan had been getting dressed during this fiasco and when he came out he witnessed Zeke's expression and guessed correctly what the problem was… Calmly telling his new found friend that it would all work out alright, he pulled his overnight case out from the pile of cases in Troy's room and proceeded to bring out two extra corsages, exact replicas of the ones that had been lost… It was found that Sharpay had had duplicate corsages ordered for all the girls in case something like this happened and had sent them along with Ryan just in case… For the first time in their lives, the entire basketball team of East High was thanking Sharpay Evans and her new found compassion and thoughtfulness….

After setting Zeke's mind at rest and changing his tie to suit Sharpay's dress, Ryan went around helping the other guys get ready on time… He fixed Chad's bowtie, straightened Jason's jacket and found Troy's left shoe which seemed to have pulled a disappearing act at the last minute…. Mrs. Bolton was extremely thankful of Ryan's calm and collected presence in helping her deal with five over excited teenage boys and she made sure that she made it known to everyone around… By the time they left, Ryan had become Mrs. Bolton's favorite pseudo-son cum poster child for the perfect high school boy and had got a lot of good natured ribbing from Troy and Chad because of it…

At the Evans residence, trouble had dogged prom preparations since the morning as Gabriella's high heel shoes were now a heel short, Taylor's hair went frizzy every two seconds, Kelsi was silently worried about the length of her dress and Martha's dress had split a seam… Sharpay was the only one who didn't look unnecessarily troubled by anything but then, she was worried about it all going well for them as she had never been so invested in any relationship before as she was now with Zeke… She really was falling in love with her baker boy and she was very scared about it… It had taken her a lot of time to trust Zeke and hand over the slightest bit of control of their relationship over to him… Now that she was falling in love with him, she found it extremely scary… To his credit, Zeke had been very patient with her and had agreed to take it slowly at a pace she was comfortable with… They had gone slowly but surely in the right direction…

Zeke was still the clumsy, endearing, tall ball player who baked irresistible crème brulees but he was learning that the waiting he had done for Sharpay to notice him was totally worth it… She now had faith that Zeke would never let her down… he might make small mistakes along the way like lose her corsage or forget to co-ordinate his tie with her dress but in the end, he wouldn't mess up on the things that really mattered… Plus, she had Ryan there with the other boys and Sharpay had full faith in her brother and his impeccable sense of style… He would make sure that all was well with the boys…. Just as she made sure that all the girls were at their best when they got ready for the boys to come and pick them up…

All the tension and troubles they had gone through since the morning were vaporized into thin air when the boys turned up at the Evans doorstep at six in the evening to be let in by their butler… Ryan led the group to the living room and bade them to wait while he went in search of his mom and the girls… As he ascended the stairs, the first girl he came face to face with turned out to be his own date… So surprised was he at the change in Kelsi's appearance that he just stood gaping at her for almost a whole minute… Recovering himself only when he saw Kelsi's blushing face glance inquiringly at him, he stuttered, trying to regain his composure…

"K…K..Kelsi… Wow…. Y…You look… wow…. That's jus… That is… You look gorgeous Kels… Simply beautiful…" Causing Kelsi to blush even harder… Taking the opportunity and gathering up his courage, Ryan stepped forward and pulling Kelsi's hand up, placed a soft kiss on it and it was Kelsi's turn to go speechless now….

"Th…Thanks Ry… You look very handsome too…" She said, still blushing, not able to believe that Ryan had kissed her hand… They could've just stood there gazing into each other's eyes for the rest of the evening had they not been interrupted by Taylor who was coming in search of Kelsi… Blushing hard, Ryan and Kelsi stepped away and delivering his message that they were all waiting downstairs, Ryan turned back to walk down the stairs… Both he and Kelsi turned back to look at the other at the same instant, causing them to smile and duck their heads before going to their respective friends….

End of Chapter 6

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A/N : hello again...hope you liked this chapter... tell me all about it on your review or comment... thnx a lot for reading :)


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N : Thank you to all the beautiful ppl who reviewed... You put the biggest smile on my face throughout the day :) :) Special thanks to digigirl02 who reviewed after every chapter... luv ur enthusiasm!**_

_**Disclaimer : By now you would know... Do i have to repeat it?... Come on it makes me feel so sad everytime i say it... Ok...(deep breath) here goes... idon'townanything...(SIGH)...that was so difficult...(tearing up) **_

**Chapter 7**

The whole group had gone to dinner at La Perla, a great Italian restaurant in Albuquerque and had just stepped into the school gym where the prom was being held this year… The organizing committee had outdone itself this year with their theme of 'The Last Waltz'… Everywhere, there were flowers, chandeliers and muted medieval decorations… Someone had done the decorating very tastefully, resulting in a truly wonderful space… The students were awed by the amount of work that had gone in to make this prom a success… Slowly, they split up into couples, gravitating either to the punch bowl, the dance floor or the seating area…

Ryan asked Kelsi if she wanted some punch and when she declined, he asked her to dance… As was their luck, a slow song started when they stepped onto the dance floor…Stepping into his arms again after 24 hours was like coming home… Kelsi couldn't explain it… but she felt so safe and secure in Ryan's arms… She felt like burrowing into his chest and never wanting to leave… Kelsi looked at her hands on his strong shoulders because she wanted to look somewhere other than his mesmerizing blue eyes… Her eyes landed on the corsage tied to her wrist and she smiled involuntarily…

The corsage that Ryan had got her showed his thoughtfulness and attention to detail… Sharpay had helped the boys out by picking out matching corsages for all the girls and sending them out to the boys' houses two days before… In true Sharpay style, she had picked out exotic orchids that complemented the colors of each of the girls' dresses… Only Kelsi's corsage was different from the others because Ryan had insisted that he would pick it out himself… Sharpay, being Ryan's sister had complete faith in his tastes and agreed to let him choose what he wanted, knowing how much it meant to him… A fact that didn't escape the notice of all the girls in the group… It was obvious that Sharpay had clued in Ryan on her dress because the corsage Ryan had chosen for her was a beautiful ivory rose, edged with a faint pink, identical to the first rosebud she had found on the piano weeks ago… It was help to her wrist by a band of vintage lace in black and beige, perfectly matching her outfit…

Ryan meanwhile was also reveling in the sensation of holding the love of his life close in his embrace… He hadn't had the courage to tell her yet but he had long before decided that Kelsi was the one for him… If she agreed, she would be his last ever girlfriend because after her he didn't want anyone else… He had wanted to dance with her like this for such a long time that he never wanted this song to end….

Unfortunately for them the song ended soon and they broke apart, gazing into each other's eyes… It was then that Ryan decided that it had to be now… before he lost his nerve, he pulled Kelsi along with him and ran out of the gym, leading a very puzzled Kelsi to the music room… Once they reached their destination, Ryan seemed to become extremely nervous as he asked Kelsi to step in… As she went into the room, her eyes automatically zeroed in on the piano and she noticed that there was another piece of paper lying in wait on it… Almost not wanting to pick it up when Ryan was there, she knew what it would be… She was torn between her curiosity for what Ryan wanted to say and her need to find out how the final lines of her song played out…

Abandoning any pretense of not looking for it, Kelsi rushed to the piano and snatched up the sheet of music, noticing at the same time that Ryan tensed up at her action and seemed to be waiting for something… She quickly unfolded the paper, surprised when she found that it contained more than one sheet… It turned out to be four full sheets of notations and she understood that she finally had the whole song…. Before she could even start feeling the joy of finally having the whole piece of music in her hands, of knowing how the song that had haunted for ages turned out, her ears detected a trained hand playing the same notes on the piano… Turning swiftly, she was astonished to find her long time crush and date for the day Ryan Evans at the baby grand, expertly playing the very song she held in her hands in notational form… Not even stopping to find out how he knew the song, Kelsi sat down next to him on the bench to enjoy the performance… This was one of the few times she had heard him play and she was determined to enjoy it fully this time…

Now that she was hearing the whole song played by Ryan himself, she understood why the melody and style had seemed so familiar… She finally understood that she was hearing Ryan play the song by heart because he had been the one who had written it…. That made her think back and she realized that he must've been the one who had sent her all those roses… As the song finally came to a close, Kelsi also understood the incredibly strong emotion behind the song that had escaped her till now and her eyes filled with crystal tears…

Turning to his best friend and crush after finishing the song he had written for her that first day, Ryan was horrified to find her in tears… He immediately rushed to brush them away, furiously apologizing all the time…

"Oh my god Kelsi…. I am so so sorry… I shouldn't have done that… I didn't mean to hurt you in any way… I am sorry Kels… Just forget that I said or did anything… I don't wanna lose you Kels… You're my best friend…. Please Kelsi… I am so sorry…. Pl…"

Any further apologies were cut off when Ryan felt something soft and sweet collide with his mouth… His eyes widened when he realized that they were Kelsi's lips on his and that he was being kissed by her…. Electricity flooded his body at the touch of Kelsi's lips and she didn't seem to be doing any better… They were both trying to come to terms with the feelings that were coursing through their bodies at the other's touch… Before he could react to her kiss, Kelsi pulled away and smiled brightly, holding his head in her hands, her fingers twined in his golden hair…

"I don't want to forget anything… In fact I don't want to forget even a single moment of this… They were happy tears… Happy tears you understand?... You've made me the happiest girl in the whole world today Ryan Evans… I love it…. I love the song…. I love your music… I love you…"

She couldn't say any more because she was now cut off by Ryan's lips on hers…. Both of them were surprised but happy finding that their reactions to each other hadn't diminished even a little bit now after their first kiss… After long minutes of soft but electric kisses and whispered sweet nothings, Ryan pulled away from his love to look down at her flushed face and ask

"How did you know?... I had this whole speech planned… I didn't even have to say anything before you figured it out…"

Smiling at him, Kelsi simply said

"I know you Ry… And I know your music… I fell in love with you in junior year when I heard you play something you had written for the first time… You were alone in the music room, not caring about anything other than the music… I heard you play from your soul that day and fell in love with what I heard as well as what I saw…. When I heard the same kind of music from you today, I finally found that I had always understood the language of your music… It was the language of love Ryan… and I had to be the blindest, deafest and most stupid person on the planet to not understand it…"

Not being able to hold it in any longer, Ryan smiled the largest most beautiful smile she had ever seen from him and hugged her impulsively before saying

"Oh Kels… I love you too….If only we had listened carefully to each other's music before… We could've been at this place so long ago…. I also fell in love with you a year ago when I first heard you play 'What I've been looking for' in the music room… You were still fine tuning it and it was in its original state… not the speeded up version… It was so beautiful that it made me stop and listen… I didn't realize that I had been staring at you for almost half an hour and had stopped listening after the first ten minutes till you got up to leave… If only I had listened to the music instead of getting lost looking at you, I might've found the courage to play you my songs before and we could've been together much earlier… But I am happy that we decided to do this atleast now… Sharpay was almost threatening me to buck up or she would put her two cents in and start controlling the whole thing…"

Squeezing Kelsi's hand, he said

"Remember what we sang the last summer Kels?... It was completely true… Even though we didn't know it then… You really are the music in me…. You are everything to me Kelsi… Everything I am, everything I need and all I will ever want…"

"Oh Ry… You might not know it but almost all the songs I have written in the last year… including some of the songs in the musicals and stuff were written for you… 'What I've been looking for', 'The music in me' , 'Everyday' , 'Wanna be with you'…. All of them were written for you… For us…"

Pulling Kelsi closer, Ryan softly pressed a kiss on her forehead, her eyelids and her cheeks before feathering soft kisses along her jawline finally coming to rest his lips on her for a soft but long and passionate kiss….

"You don't know how much I love you…. I don't think I can express it quite that well myself… You make me what I am Kelsi… You're really the music inside of me… you're the melody that fills my heart and the songs that fill my head… I can't see a future without you in it and I hope that you'll be with me forever…."

Ryan had been debating whether to say anything about the future or not… He didn't want to scare Kelsi away by bringing the future and any plans he had for them into it… But now, facing Kelsi and baring his heart and soul to her, he felt like he shouldn't be keeping anything from her…

Kelsi was shocked that Ryan had actually thought about their future but on the other hand so had she… She couldn't get around the fact that even though they didn't know what the future held for them, she was sure that she wanted her future to be entwined with that of Ryan Evans…

"I don't know what the future holds for us Ryan… But I do know one thing… If it is possible, I want to give this relationship a real try… I want this to have a future… If it was in my hands I would hold on to this moment and never let go… But we have to get on with our lives and face the future… And I am very happy that I will be facing my life and future with you by my side…"

"Kelsi… Will you be my girlfriend?..." Ryan asked her a little shyly

"I don't think there was really a need to ask now Ry… It seems like you're gonna be stuck with me for quite some time… Yes Ryan… I would love to be your girlfriend…" she smirked but then added a little sadly "for however long…"

Turning in his seat to look at her properly Ryan questioned

"What do you mean Kelsi?..."

Sighing, she replied

"Ry… Do you realize that we're both up for the Juilliard scholarship the day after, along with Troy and Shar?... What if one of us gets it and the other doesn't?... How are we gonna deal with this then?... I just found you Ryan… I don't wanna lose you so soon…"

Kelsi was almost in tears by the time she was done… Ryan wrapped her into a bear hug and murmured softly in her ear, trying to calm her down

"We'll work it out baby… You'll see… It'll all work itself out… I have faith in us and I have faith in our feelings for each other… We'll get through this… I am not going to let distance come between us now that we've finally found each other…"

After they had both calmed down a bit, they decided to return to the gym before somebody missed them and came looking… Walking down the paved pathway, Kelsi apprehensively turned to her new boyfriend

"Ry… I am gonna ask you something… I hope you don't get angry…"

Frowning at Kelsi, Ryan shook his head in denial and said

"Kels… there's nothing you could say that would make me angry… so please don't keep anything to yourself… I want you to say whatever you're feeling without any fears…"

"Ryan… would you mind it terribly if we didn't tell everyone about us tonight?... Or tomorrow for that matter?... It's just that there's so much confusion right now regarding the musical, our futures, the scholarship and everything else… I just don't want to add to it…" she concluded apologetically

Ryan smiled slightly before squeezing his girlfriend's hand and assuring her that they would tell their friends whenever Kelsi felt comfortable with it… But also reminded her that his sister and Zeke might know just by looking at them… Zeke and Sharpay had become very close with Ryan and Kelsi in the past few weeks and had started to understand each other very well… Kelsi laughed at that and said that if they found out by themselves, they would keep it to themselves and give her and Ryan the opportunity to tell their friends themselves…

They stepped back into the gym, acting as if nothing was different… To their credit, they tried as much as they could to avoid any physical contact as possible but found it almost impossible to stop staring at each other in a lovesick kind of way… Sharpay and Zeke, who had been looking for them, noticed as soon as they came in and grinned at them in a knowing manner, causing both Ryan and Kelsi to blush hard and break apart…

The rest of the night was spent in soft conversations over cups of punch, lots of dancing and enjoying the company of their friends… Both Ryan and Kelsi privately conceded that it had probably been the best night of their lives… one they would definitely never forget… One they both hoped, would function as a stepping stone for other such nights and occasions in their lives…

End of Chapter 7

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A/N : tell me how it was :)


	8. Epilogue

_**A/N : This is both a very happy and a very sad moment for me... :'( This is my first Ryelsi fic and the first multi-chapter fic that i have successfully finished... I am gonna miss writing more Ryelsi for some time...**_

_**Hope all of you who stuck with me and this fic till the end would think that it was worth it... Thanks for reading and have a great day! :)**_

**Epilogue**

The musical had just gotten over, fulfilling its quota of drama and nerves and the whole graduating senior class was assembled on stage as part of the graduation ceremony where everyone got to announce what they were planning to do after high school… Ms. Darbus had said that the Juilliard representatives had made their decision and she would be announcing the scholarship awardee's name during the ceremony… First they started with Gabriella, as she was the class valedictorian… Everyone already knew that she was going to Stanford to study Law… Then came Taylor, who was planning to study political science at Yale, then came Chad, who was getting a basketball scholarship to study Economics at U of A…

Everyone got the surprise news that Zeke had gotten a full scholarship to the French Culinary institute in New York to study under his idol Chef Gusteau… And that Sharpay had opted to go to NYU, majoring in Theatre… Even Ryan seemed surprised at her decision, but Zeke was smiling and holding his girlfriend's hand throughout so it would be safe to say that he knew of that decision… Jason had actually graduated and had opted to go to U of A along with Martha… Jason for Film School and Martha for Dance… That left Troy, Ryan and Kelsi… The three of the class who had been in the running for the scholarship from Juilliard… Kelsi had monster butterflies in her stomach as she reached for Ryan's hand and held it tightly, waiting for Ms. Darbus to announce who had gotten it… Ms. Darbus started out quite dramatically, announcing that Juilliard had been astonished by the quality of the performance they had witnessed…

"They have decided to give the scholarship to….." the whole auditorium waited with bated breath… You could've heard a pin drop in the back row…

"Ms. Kelsi Nielsen for Composition…"

As the whole auditorium erupted into congratulatory applause, Ryan pulled her into a giant bear hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her… This made both of them kinda lose track of the fact that Ms. Darbus was still speaking… And she was saying something about the scholarship… They couldn't understand what she was saying till they both heard it at the same time…

"They were so impressed with the talent exhibited tonight that in a never before decision, they have decided to grant another scholarship… to Mr. Ryan Evans for Choreography…"

That was when, in front of the whole school and their parents, friends and teachers who were all cheering loudly for them, Kelsi Nielsen jumped into her till-then-secret boyfriend's arms and kissed him hard, letting all her emotions pour out into that single kiss, trying to make Ryan understand how much this particular moment meant to her…

They only broke apart minutes later hearing catcalls and whistles and blushed heavily at having been so publicly affectionate with each other… Still holding hands and grinning at each other uncontrollably, they completely missed the drama concerning Troy and his choice to go to Berkeley and the fact that Chad had left the stage in the middle of the proceedings... They only had eyes for each other and their minds and hearts were saying only one thing repeatedly… Ryan and Kelsi were going to Juilliard and New York… together…

As the curtains descended and they all broke apart to congratulate one another, there was a lot of good natured ribbing going on about the kiss Kelsi had planted on Ryan in front of everyone… Much to every body's surprise, Kelsi just blushed prettily and kissed him again when asked about it… They hadn't expected that from the shy, meek Kelsi Nielsen…

The basketball team, which had unofficially adopted Kelsi or 'Small Person' as they called her as their little sister, thought it to be the right time to give Ryan the protective big brothers speech.. To Ryan's credit, they thought he took it well… He hadn't been shaking too much at their threats to dismember him and throw away his body parts if her ever hurt their little sister…

After another round of congratulations and good wishes from everyone, they all dispersed, promising to meet at the Evans residence for the after party… Ryan and Kelsi remained standing on the stage even after everyone had left, staring into the empty auditorium… This had been a great day for them… a momentous, life changing day… They had seen their first musical come to life on stage, their work praised to high heaven by everyone and had also gotten scholarships to go to their dream college to study what they wanted… But the thing that was on top of their minds now was that their relationship had been given a chance… They had been given an opportunity to work it out and be with each other for atleast three or four years more…. They might not know what the future held for them, but they knew that their futures held each other… And they were confident that they would be together for a long, long time to come…

Reaching for each other's hands, Ryan and Kelsi turned and proceeded to walk off the stage of East High for the last time… They were leaving their past life, their high school and their stage behind… And stepping into the sunshine of the new and bright future they had been given…Together.

_**- FIN -**_

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A/N : Those of you who have reached this point... Congratulations!... Virtual Star Dazzle Awards being sent your way... A celebration parade will also be organized for those who review!... :) :) Hope to see you in other fics...


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